


Time Passes

by Lost_Robin



Series: Opposite Sides of the World [2]
Category: Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: Chuck Hansen is a Brat, Gen, beginnings of the PPDC
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-22
Updated: 2019-11-11
Packaged: 2019-11-28 00:10:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18200843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lost_Robin/pseuds/Lost_Robin
Summary: Living in a Shatterdome is hard enough with the constant threat of Kaiju looming; how hard is it to be a teenager in the Shatterdome?





	1. 2015: Whole

**Author's Note:**

> August 30, 2015: Mako meets her new hero.
> 
> I played around with the timeline a bit, changing when certain things happened to make it internally consistent in this story. The measurement of time is a construct, anyway.

Not quite a year after their motley crew arrived in Hong Kong, a third child arrived at the Shatterdome: Mako Mori, Stacker’s new adoptive daughter. She was Anna and Chuck’s age, Hermann told her, and had been orphaned by a Kaiju almost a month prior.

 

She and Chuck hadn’t been allowed to watch the news broadcast that showed a Kaiju attacking Tokyo, but Scott Hansen, Chuck’s uncle, had snuck them into a conference room. Scott was nice enough to them, with Chuck going on non-stop about how cool his uncle was at every chance he got.

 

Anna took it upon herself to learn Japanese, at least enough that this other girl could talk to someone other than Stacker. She was already doing so well in Cantonese, getting quite a bit of practice with the J-Tech personnel. Not that she or Chuck could really read it, but they were learning some of the basics. She liked learning new languages, and Hermann thought it was a good idea.

 

Mako arrived at the Hong Kong Shatterdome on a rainy May day. Anna went outside with Hermann to greet Stacker and Mako, holding the large, black umbrella carefully so the water didn’t drip on Hermann. Chuck hadn’t finished his schoolwork for the day, so the tutor that had been hired (a former military man who took no excuses or anything, reminding Anna very much of Hermann) was making sure he finished his maths.

 

This new girl was smaller than she had assumed, probably shorter than Anna herself, who wasn’t all that tall. Her straight black hair brushed the shoulders of her just slightly too-big black coat, and her patent leather shoes looked brand-new.

 

Stacker spoke to Mako in quiet Japanese. The girl didn’t say anything, just looking blankly at the other girl in front of her.

 

“ _ Honkon e yōkoso. Watashitachiha tomodachi ni nareru koto o negatte imasu, _ ” Anna said, trying to pronounce each word correctly.

 

Mako perked up.

 

“Sorry, I don’t speak much Japanese,” Anna admitted, holding out her hand. “I’m Anna.”

 

Mako bowed, then shook Anna’s hand. “Mako,” she said.

 

“Miss Gottlieb, why don’t you show Mako around?” Stacker said. “Dr. Gottlieb and I have some things to talk about.”

 

Anna nodded. “It’s not much,” she said as she and Mako started for the elevators. “But it’s home.”

 

She took Mako straight to the labs, knowing that there would be someone interesting there. Now that the Jaegers were being built, there were more people bustling in and out of the Shatterdome, which was what Stacker had started calling their little base.

 

When they got to the labs, there was only one person there: a woman with short blonde hair working at one of the computers.

 

“Dr. Lightcap!” Anna said. “You’re back!”

 

Caitlin smiled and turned around. “It’s such a long flight from Anchorage,” she said, stretching. “How’s it been?”

 

Caitlin was Anna’s favorite grown-up at the Shatterdome other than Hermann. She and Hermann worked together quite a bit, programming the Pons. Unlike Hermann, she gave Anna and Chuck sweets occasionally when they stopped by her lab.

 

“Good.” Anna gestured at Mako. “Mako’s going to be living here now, so it’s not just me and Chuck.”

 

She liked Chuck, him being her best friend and all, but there were days he could be a right jerk. At least there would be someone else to hang out with now that Mako was there. Hermann wouldn’t let her hang out in the lab, not even when they weren’t doing any soldering.

 

“Nice to meet you, Miss Mori,” Caitlin said. “Please, call me Caitlin, both of you.”

 

“Uncle Hermann said to call you ‘Dr. Lightman’,” Anna said.

 

Caitlin ruffled Anna’s blonde hair. “I’m sure Hermy did,” she said.

 

Mako bowed. “Nice to meet you,” she said in accented English. “What do you do here?”

 

“I help build the Jaegers,” Caitlin said. “Let me give you the grand tour of our Jaeger Lab.”

 

There wasn’t much to the lab, seeing as it was just where Caitlin, Jasper, Hermann, and, surprisingly, Lars were designing the Jaegers before they were built wherever they could get a country to build them, but Caitlin had been working on a better Pons system, one that would work more efficiently. It was mostly computers and large tables covered in diagrams and blueprints and, sometimes, long printouts from the computer.

 

“Once they finish the bay, are you going to bring Brawler here?” Anna asked.

 

She hadn’t seen the Jaeger in person, but Hermann had let her watch Brawler Yukon take on Karloff from the conference room. She had then asked Hermann if she could get Caitlin’s autograph. Her hero-worship of the older woman had only grown when Hermann told her that Caitlin was the one who had designed the Pons in the first place.

 

“Sorry, kiddo, but once they finish up the first Jaeger for here, Sergio and I will be heading out to Anchorage,” Caitlin said.

 

“Oh,” Anna said quietly. “So they’re making another one of these places?”

 

“Yup. An academy to go with it, so maybe I’ll see you there in a few years?”

 

Anna and Mako both nodded.

 

“I want to fight the Kaiju,” Mako said firmly, fire in her eyes.

 

“You’ll need a copilot,” Anna said. “No one can pilot a Jaeger alone. The strain is too much for your brain.”

 

She and Chuck had met Adam Casey once. He had been rather kind. His funeral had been the first Anna had ever gone to. Stacker had given the eulogy. His ashes had been scattered off of the Shatterdome’s helipad into the ocean.

 

Mako’s shoulders slumped.

 

“I’ll be your copilot,” Anna said. “I mean, we’ll have to go through training, but we’ll get through it and then we can help Dr. Lightcap and Mr. Sergio fight the Kaiju.”

 

Mako nodded. “We’ll be the best pilots!” she said, grasping Anna’s hands.

 

“You have a few years ahead of you before that happens,” Caitlin said. “But at least you’ll be going into the academy with a copilot.”

 

They stayed in the lab with Caitlin, discussing the Pons and how the Jaegers actually worked, until lunch. Then Anna took Mako by the hand and led her to the recently-completed dining hall. Anna missed the noodle shop. The kitchen staff didn’t let her and Chuck watch them make any of the food.

 

Chuck glared at Mako when she and Anna sat at the table Anna and Chuck had been sitting at for the past week, ever since the dining hall had started functioning.

 

“Who’s this?” he asked.

 

“Mako Mori,” Anna said. “She’s going to be living here. She’s twelve, just like us.”

 

Mako sized Chuck up. He was taller than her, but scrawny. She could take him, if it came to it.

 

“Oh,” Chuck said before turning back to his dumplings.

 

Anna looked between the two of them.

 

“She’s our age, Chuck,” she said slowly. Perhaps Chuck hadn’t understood what she was saying. That happened occasionally, especially if she accidentally slipped into French or German. “We’re not the only kids here now.”

 

“Got that, thanks.”

 

Anna deflated. “I’m going to go get our trays, Mako,” she said. “I’ll be right back.”

 

When Anna came back with two trays of dumplings and milk, she saw Mako and Chuck fighting, though Mako was doing a much better job than Anna had been the year before.

 

“What’s going on?” Herc roared, having been enjoying his coffee in relative peace across the room.

 

He split the two kids up, but not before Chuck had a black eye and Mako had a split.

 

“Would someone like to explain?” Herc asked, holding the two preteens by the back of their shirts.

 

Had she not been so horrified, she would have found the sight amusing: Herc holding them off of the ground by their shirts.

 

Chuck crossed his arms. “She started it,” he said.

 

“No, I didn’t,” Mako spat, trying to reach him.

 

Herc swung them further apart. “Enough,” he said. “We’ll talk about this later, Chuck.”

 

He let go of Chuck, who took his tray and went out of the dining hall. Once Chuck was far enough away, he gently put Mako down. When he turned around and saw Anna standing there, he smiled.

 

“Sorry about that,” he said before walking off in the same general direction as Chuck.

 

Anna put the trays down at the table.

 

“I don’t want to know,” she said. “I’m just glad I’m not the one in trouble this time.”


	2. A Haircut

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> September 25, 2015: Chuck meets regulation haircuts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of a shorter chapter, but one that has been a long time in the making.

Chuck’s first sight of the Anchorage Shatterdome was of a snow-covered building, the same size as the Hong Kong Shatterdome. It had snowed the day before, causing them to be stuck in Los Angeles, where there was another Shatterdome being built, until another flight could be arranged.

 

As they got closer, in the jeep that some young guy who called his dad ‘sir’ picked them up from the airport in, Chuck saw that it was different from the Hong Kong Shatterdome. There were clusters of buildings, and a tall fencing encircling the base. A group of people in dark blue sweats were jogging around one of the buildings.

 

Chuck would be joining them soon enough. He was being enrolled in the Jaeger Academy. He would be a Ranger just like his dad and uncle after four years of training.

 

If only Anna had been able to join him. She, according to Hermann, had to finish up her schooling the ‘proper’ way, which meant that she was stuck with him in Hong Kong, continuing her online schooling and running around the Shatterdome with Mako.

 

“You ready?” Herc asked.

 

Chuck stared out the window. “Whatever,” he muttered.

 

When they arrived in the quarters building, which was the only familiar part of this place so far as it was near-identical to the quarters section of the Hong Kong Shatterdome, Herc opened the shoebox that he had been holding the entire hour-long drive from the airport. His beloved clippers glittered from inside an Uggs shoebox.

 

Chuck started backing into the corner. “What’re you doing with those?” he asked.

 

“You need a trim before you start classes,” Herc said, exchanging a look with Scott.

 

Scott started advancing towards his nephew, moving slowly so as not to startle the preteen.

 

“What’s wrong with my hair?” Chuck asked.

 

He had been growing it out, just because he could. What was so wrong with having a mullet?

 

“It’s not in regulation, mate,” Scott said. “Rules are rules.”

 

“But an unfair rule isn’t a rule that we have to follow,” Chuck said, trying to remember what Anna had said on the matter. “So I don’t want a haircut.”

 

“Now where did you learn something like that?”

 

“Anna,” Chuck said. “She argued with Teacher.”

 

Technically, she had argued that group punishment was against the Geneva Convention, which Teacher had said only counted if they were at war. Chuck hadn’t understood what she had said next, but it had been in French and very angry-sounding.

 

“Oh, did she now?” Scott said, giving Herc a knowing look. “And what do you think Anna would say if she saw you in this sorry state?”

 

“Nothing.”

 

“Son, either we do this now, or you’ll have to get your hair cut in front of all of your new classmates tomorrow,” Herc said. “Trust me, it’s just easier this way.”

 

In the end, Chuck’s hair ended up being regulation short before he walked into the academy. Anna and Mako asked if he had been attacked by a Jaeger when he video-chatted them after his first day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Next time: what Mako and Anna are up to back in Hong Kong.


	3. A Touch of Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> December 10, 2015: Anna and Mako miss Chuck.

It hadn’t been Anna’s idea in the first place. She had wanted to make that very clear to Hermann, Stacker, and Caitlin. And Sergio, who had been on a video-chat with Caitlin during the Incident. She had never seen Sergio disappointed in her before, and it  _ hurt _ .

 

He was usually the fun one, the one who encouraged their childish mischief. He had been the one to help Anna and Chuck pull off pranks during their first April Fool’s Day in the Shatterdome. Anna had never seen him as anything but happy and smiling. He actually  _ frowned _ at them and told them that he was disappointed in them, which hurt even more than the lecture from Stacker.

 

But even he thought that they had gone too far in trying to hack the PPDC’s files to station Chuck at the non-existent Hong Kong Jaeger Academy. If it hadn’t been for Hermann’s firewall, Anna thought as she walked to the classroom, they would have managed it. Alas, her uncle had never taught her how to hack. Probably for good reason.

 

As punishment, Anna and Mako would be stuck in the classroom for eight hours a day (with an hour for lunch under close supervision in the dining hall), working on their schoolwork, as punishment. Prior to this, they had only been required to spend the morning in the classroom, as most of their schoolwork was online and independently guided. Now, they had to sit there as their teacher droned on and on.

 

There was no getting around him. They had tried, and Anna was tired of being slung over his shoulder as he took them back to the classroom. He almost knew the Shatterdome better than them.

 

“We tried to get you stationed here,” Anna said at their next (closely supervised) video-chat with Chuck.

 

“It’s not all that bad here,” Chuck said. “Except for you not being here.”

 

He still looked rather odd with his very short hair, but Anna liked it better than the mullet he had previously had.

 

“Yes, but we miss you,” Anna said, glaring at Hermann, who was sitting at his desk. “It just isn’t the same without you here.”

 

“Maybe you’ll get to come here. It’s not that bad.” Chuck paused. “Except for the cold. No one told me how bloody freezing it would be.”

 

“Language, Mr. Hansen,” Hermann said, not looking up from his computer.

 

“Sorry, Dr. Gottlieb. Who knew it could get this cold?”

 

“Anyone who’s lived somewhere cold,” Mako said.

 

“Yeah, well, I’ve never seen this much snow before, and it’s terrifying. How are we going to get the Jaegers out of the ice here?”

 

“Have you been assigned a copilot?” Anna asked.

 

Chuck frowned and shook his head. “I’m doing more tests soon,” he said, “so they’ll probably find some random guy. But we get to start training in the Kwoon soon.”

 

“Let us know how that turns out,” Anna said.

 

Hermann tapped his cane on the floor.

 

“We have to go,” she said. “We’ll call next week, okay?”

 

“Good luck with Teacher.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Next time, our best friends will be reunited! Let me know what you think!

**Author's Note:**

> Next time: Chuck meets his worst enemy: regulation haircuts.


End file.
